The second slide of my spark at Ignite Boulder 10 included a picture of adorable baby foxes. When they hit the screen, the sold out crowd of 875 people at the Boulder Theater oohed and cooed. They were with me and I knew the next 4 minutes and 45 seconds would be a great ride for the 876 of us.
From the moment I stepped on stage until Andrew Hyde handed me my Ignite Boulder trophy of excellence, the energy from the crowd was palpable and electric. I told myself to completely embrace that and enjoy it because that feeling doesn’t come around often. I succeeded.
In the many times I ran through my spark before the event, time whipped by. When I walked on stage I was confident, but unsure how it would go down. Then there were laughs, cheers and the support of my friends down front and everything slowed down.
As I went through the spark, I felt a comfort and ease that I rarely feel on a regular day. As I watch the YouTube video, it goes by fast, but on that night I felt like I had all the time in the world to deliver my message.
That message is that it’s time to move beyond debate on settled issues. Those issues range from the serious, like global warming and carbon emissions to the slightly absurd like no longer naming events Paloozas. Once we put these aside, I believe we can tackle important and world shaping issues more effectively together as a global community.
The crowd responded with laughter, cheers, applause, many nice words later and some wonderful tweets over the following week. In return I offer my profound thanks for the incredible support and energy they provided me with that night. Those five minutes on stage are something I will be able to tap into for a long time when I need a little extra to get me through a hard day or major challenge.
Boulder brings it when it comes to collaboration and motivation for ideas and taking risks. Ignite Boulder brings that all together. I am glad to have been a part of it and certainly hope to do it again.
